Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Shafter Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Shafter Township

Shafter Township’s post office opened in 1899

Most of Shafter Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1996. Below: maps from 1944 on.

1899first post office
0on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Shafter Township began

When was Shafter Township founded?

1899

The Shafter Township post office opened in 1899, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Shafter (1899), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 466127 years
Founding year: the first Shafter Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Shafter Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Shafter Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Shafter Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Shafter Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Shafter Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Shafter Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Shafter is an unincorporated community in Fayette County, Illinois, United States.

Its first post office opened in 1899. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 485 to 466 (-4%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Shafter Township, 1878 to 1944

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878Born hereArthur Roe is born here
  3. 1899Post officeThe Shafter post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1901Post officeThe Shafter post office closes
  6. 1944On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Shafter Township on the map, 1944 to 1998

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Shafter Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Shafter Township on the 1944 USGS mapShafter Township on the 1974 USGS mapShafter Township on the 1998 USGS map1944Ramsey sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Shafter Township.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Shafter, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Shafter
Gone or out of use
Bear Creek SchoolschoolBrowning SchoolschoolBrush College SchoolschoolBurnett SchoolschoolCrisson SchoolschoolPeak SchoolschoolRush SchoolschoolSpunk SchoolschoolWashington Schoolschool
7cemeteries and burying grounds inside Shafter Township
BrackenbushBrowningCemeteryCookHoly Cross LutheranLawlerRush

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Bear Grove TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSharon TownshipIts storyCFillmore Consolidated TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSouth Hurricane TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMulberry Grove TownshipIts storyB+

Questions about Shafter Township’s history

What year was Shafter Township founded?

The Shafter Township post office opened in 1899, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.